Device for coupling a shoe with a sports gear

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a system for fixing a shoe to a sports gear using a fixing device fixed on the sports gear and comprising stop means ( 60 ) cooperating with the shoe front end and elastic catching means ( 50 ) cooperating with the sole associated catching means ( 17 ) arranged behind the sole front end and exerting on said sole a tension pressure towards said stop means. The invention is characterized in that said elastic catching means ( 50 ) are anchored on the fixing device, at the rear of the stop means ( 60 ). The elastic catching means anchoring means ( 40, 53 ) are longitudinally mobile countering the elastic means ( 38 ).

[0001] The instant invention concerns a system for fixing a shoe to a sports gear, especially a gliding sport, such as cross-country skiing, touring, telemark skiing, ice skating or roller skating.

[0002] In traditional fixing systems of the type used in cross-country skis, the fastening of the shoe on the sports gear is generally obtained at the front thereof by means of a hinge type of coupling which allows the shoe to have a clearance with respect to the sports gear, i.e., the heel can be lifted.

[0003] Ice skates or roller skates are also known to possess a journalled coupling of the shoe with the sports gear, thereby allowing the stride to be lengthened and the speed to be increased.

[0004] Such coupling systems have proven themselves. However, their drawback is that the shoe sole has to be both rigid in the transverse direction and during torsion, while also remaining flexible enough to allow, insofar as possible, the foot to move naturally.

[0005] Since these requirements are contradictory and difficult to reconcile on one single element, the ski is not always controlled and guided in an optimum manner.

[0006] On the other hand, shoes belonging to such systems generally comprise a transverse axis located at the sole front end which can become a hindrance while walking.

[0007] Identical problems are encountered in other fields, especially skating.

[0008] Document WO 96/23558 proposes coupling the shoe front part, up to the zone known as the metatarsophalangian joint, by means of an elastic element anchored at one end to the fixing element, and that gets fastened, by its free end in the shoe sole, at the rear of said zone. This elastic element provides the shoe with the desired stiffness characteristics transversely and in torsion, and at the same time exerts a constant return force of said shoe towards the sports gear. The result is an improved control and guidance of the sports gear.

[0009] Nonetheless, this elastic element is subjected to substantial fatigue and rapid wear due to the repeated bending of the foot during the sporting activity, such that the stiffness and elastic return properties indicated hereinabove get altered over time.

[0010] The object of the instant invention is to overcome these drawbacks and propose an improved fixing device that reconciles the problems of the lifting of the shoe heel, torsional control and material fatigue.

[0011] This object is achieved in the fixing device of the system according to the invention which is of the type comprising front stop means cooperating with the shoe front end, and elastic catching means cooperating with the sole associated catching means arranged behind the sole front end, and exerting on said sole a tension pressure towards said stop means, due to the fact that the elastic catching means are anchored on the fixing device at the rear of the front stop means.

[0012] This construction leads to a substantial reduction in the bending stresses of the elastic catching means which, as a result, are less prone to wear by reason of fatigue, and furthermore exert a more constant tension pressure and elastic return pressure.

[0013] According to a preferred embodiment, the anchoring means of the elastic catching means are longitudinally mobile countering the elastic means. This construction guarantees that when the shoe bends, the return elasticity will preferably be provided by the compression of the elastic means rather than by the bending of the catching means. Consequently, the return elasticity can be better controlled.

[0014] Also, the anchoring of the elastic catching means is advantageously constituted of a journal, which allows it to remain completely free of any bending related energy.

[0015] At any rate, the invention shall be better understood and other characteristics thereof shall become more apparent from the description that follows with reference to the annexed schematic drawings representing, by way of non-restrictive examples, several preferred embodiments of the invention in which:

[0016]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fixing device according to the invention during its operation,

[0017]FIG. 2 is a partial longitudinal cross-sectional view of the fixing device of FIG. 1 in the position for being put on,

[0018]FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, in the closed position, when the shoe is at rest,

[0019]FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 when the shoe is in the lifted position,

[0020]FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of the shoe lower part,

[0021]FIG. 6 is a schematic view of another embodiment during the closure of the fixing device.

[0022]FIG. 1 shows the application of the coupling system according to the invention at the coupling of a ski 1 with a cross-country ski shoe 10, such coupling occurring by way of a fixing device 20 and a guiding rib 70.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 5, the shoe 10 comprises a sole 11, equipped at its front end with a wide peripheral edge 12 that defines, at its joining with the shoe upper, a neck 13, and comprises along the entire length of its lower surface a median longitudinal groove 14. At its front end, the sole 11 curves upwardly in a slight curvature 11 a, in the manner of traditional mountaineering shoes. The curve 11 a is adapted to facilitate the movement of the shoe, as shall be seen later.

[0024] Furthermore, an insert 15 is fixed, for example, by screws 16 or even by duplicate molding, to the base of the groove 14, in a zone corresponding substantially to the metatarsophalangian joint zone. This insert 15 defines a hook 17 oriented towards the rear.

[0025] All these shoe elements are adapted to cooperate with the fixing device 20 as shall be seen later.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 2, the fixing device 20 is constituted of a seating 21 fixed on the ski 1 by screws 22, and on which is journalled a latching lever 30, by means of an axis 31. Moreover, the latching lever 30 is connected to the seating 21 by two lateral connecting rods 32, journalled, on the one hand, at 33 on said lever 30 and by a transverse axis 34 sliding in the lateral slots 23 of the seating, on the other hand.

[0027] The lever 30-connecting rods 32 assembly forms a knuckle joint system whose neutral line is defined by the axes 31 and 34.

[0028] Thus, when the lever 30 is lowered into the closed position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the journal axes 33 of the connecting rods 32 at the lever pass below said neutral line and the position of equilibrium is stable. The knuckle joint system requires a certain force to cross the axis 33 on both sides of the neutral position, and this guarantees that the lever will not open in an ill-timed manner.

[0029] A substantially cap shaped slide 35, comprising two longitudinal walls 36 and a base wall 37 is also mounted on the transverse axis 34. This slide 35 receives a compression spring 38.

[0030] The spring 38 is kept between the base 37 of the slide, which comprises a projection 37 a adapted for this purpose, and the front end 41 of a carriage 40. The carriage 40 is slidably mounted in the seating 20 which comprises, to this end, a guiding slide 25 opening laterally along the sides of the seating 20. An elastic catching wire 50 adapted to cooperate with the shoe hook 17 is journalled at the rear end 42 of the carriage 40.

[0031] The elastic catching wire 50 is substantially U-shaped and comprises a transverse arm 52 adapted to cooperate with the hook 17 and two lateral arms 51 whose curved ends 53 are journalled on the carriage 40.

[0032] The fixing device also comprises front stop means, incidentally constituted of a stirrup 60 comprising a horizontal arm 61 shaped in a circular arch and corresponding to the shape of the neck 13 of the shoe sole, and adapted to receive the latter and two lateral arms 62, that are substantially vertical and journalled by their ends 63, on the seating 20. The stirrup 60 is arranged at the front of the elastic catching wire 50 and can therefore pivot about its ends 63.

[0033] Naturally, other shapes could be envisioned for the stirrup depending on the shape of the sole.

[0034] The stirrup could also be provided not to cooperate with the sole neck 13, but only with the upper surface of the peripheral edge 12.

[0035] Finally, the fixing device comprises a guiding rib 70 whose transverse section corresponds to that of the shoe groove 14 and whose front end 71 gets adjusted to the rear part of the seating 20 which also forms a guiding rib.

[0036] The fixing system according to the invention works as follows. The shoe 10 is positioned in the fixing device by introducing its sole front end in the stirrup 60 until the neck 13 comes into abutment with the horizontal arm 61 of the stirrup (see FIG. 2).

[0037] The shoe therefore gets latched by lowering the lever 30, which has the effect of pulling the carriage 40 and therefore the catching wire 50 towards the front until its arm 52 gets housed in the base of the hook 17 (see FIG. 3).

[0038] This closing movement is helped by the spring 38 which tends to push the carriage 40 back towards the front. The spring 38 also allows compensating for the snow wedges that could get formed in the shoe sole.

[0039] While skiing, the shoe, whose heel remains free, can bend, carrying the catching wire 50 along its path, which both slides towards the rear into the seating 20 by compressing the spring 38 by means of the carriage 40, as well as pivots towards the top about its ends 53 (see FIG. 4).

[0040] The spring 38 therefore provides the return energy of the shoe towards the upper surface of the ski since it tends to relax, and therefore returns the catching wire 50 towards the front.

[0041] The return energy is therefore not provided by an elastic deformation of the wire 50 which therefore ages much better.

[0042] Furthermore, this return energy is completely defined since it is provided by the compression of a compression spring 38 and is better controlled and better controllable than would have been the case if it had been provided by the bending of a wire, as in the prior art.

[0043] In addition, the displacement, towards the rear with respect to the front stop means 60, of the anchor 53 of the spring wire provides a triangulation, enabling a better retention of the shoe, especially in the transverse direction.

[0044] This triangulation, and especially the journalled anchoring of the catching wire 50 by its ends 53, also allows for a greater bending clearance of the shoe, a property desired in cross-country skis.

[0045] It should be noted that the journalled anchoring of the stirrup 60 on the seating 20, combined with the rounded shape 11 a of the sole front, enabling a slight pivoting thereof towards the front when the shoe pivots, therefore allows it to accompany the motion of the movement of the shoe at the end of a stride, and therefore increases the amplitude of the stride even further. In practice, an increase on the order of 10 to 15° of the clearance of the shoe at the end of a stride can be obtained due to the rounded shape 11 a of the sole thereof towards the front, which is especially interesting.

[0046] Finally, the presence along the entire length of the shoe sole, of the guiding rib 70, which gets extended by the rear portion of the seating 21 up to the shoe front end, allows controlling the movement of the shoe until the motion ends, by providing it with a support and an abutment in the transverse direction.

[0047] As can be seen especially from FIG. 1, the guiding rib 70 is interrupted in the metatarsal zone for the passage of the catching wire 50 and the shoe associated hook.

[0048] The shapes of the guiding edges are designed also to optimize the guidance of the shoe.

[0049]FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of a second embodiment in which similar or identical elements have been designated by the same references increased by 100.

[0050] In fact, this fixing system comprises the same latching elements or, in other words, a front stop stirrup 160, journalled at 163, a catching wire 150 connected to a slidably mounted carriage 140, which is biased towards the front by a spring 138 and whose longitudinal displacement is controlled by a lever 130.

[0051] The main difference lies in the position of the journals 131 and 134 of the lever 130 and the connecting rods 132 that are located at the rear of the spring 138. Otherwise, the operation is identical.

[0052] Naturally, the instant invention is not limited to the embodiments described hereinbefore by way of non-restrictive examples, and can encompass all similar or equivalent embodiments. 

1. System for fixing a shoe to a sports gear by means of a fixing device fixed on the sports gear and comprising stop means (60, 160) cooperating with the shoe front end and elastic catching means (50, 150) cooperating with the sole associated catching means (17, 117) arranged behind the sole front end and exerting on said sole a tension pressure in towards said stop means, characterized in that the elastic catching means (50, 150) are anchored on the fixing device, at the rear of the stop means (60, 160).
 2. Fixing system according to claim 1 , characterized in that the anchoring means (40, 53; 140, 153) of the elastic catching means are longitudinally mobile countering the elastic means (38, 138).
 3. Fixing system according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the anchor (53, 153) of the elastic catching means (50, 150) is journalled.
 4. Fixing system according to one of claims 1 through 3, characterized in that the elastic anchoring means (50, 150) are constituted of a U-shaped wire comprising a transverse arm capable of cooperating with the shoe associated anchoring means (17, 117).
 5. Fixing system according to one of claims 1 through 4, characterized in that the displacement of the elastic anchoring means is controlled by a knuckle-joint lever system (30, 130).
 6. Fixing system according to one of claims 1 through 5, characterized in that the front stop means are constituted of a stirrup (60, 160) cooperating with the shoe sole (12, 112).
 7. Fixing system according to claim 6 , characterized in that the stirrup (60) comprises a horizontal arm (61) shaped substantially in a circular arch.
 8. Fixing system according to one of claims 6 or 7, characterized in that the stirrup (60) is journalled on the fixing element.
 9. Fixing system according to one of claims 1 through 8, characterized in that the fixing device comprises a guiding rib (70, 71) adapted to cooperate with a groove (14) associated with the shoe.
 10. Shoe for the system as defined any one of claims 1 through 9, characterized in that it comprises a hook (17, 117) on the lower surface of its sole.
 11. Shoe according to claim 10 , characterized in that the hook (17, 117) is arranged substantially in the metatarsophalangian joint zone.
 12. Shoe according to one of claims 10 or 11, characterized in that the shoe comprises a sole equipped at its front end with a peripheral edge (12, 112) adapted to cooperate with the front stop means (60, 160).
 13. Shoe according to claim 12 , characterized in that the sole front end defines a neck(13, 113).
 14. Shoe according to one of claims 10 through 13, characterized in that the sole comprises a longitudinal groove (14) along the entire length of the lower surface of its sole.
 15. Shoe according to one of claims 10 through 14, characterized in that its sole front end (11, 111) comprises a curvature (11 a, 11 a). 